My Luna Accused Me of Treason to Protect Her Lover

She came to me at midnight.

The guards let her through without question—of course they did. She was the future Luna, and I was just the disgraced traitor rotting in confinement.

Livia stood in my doorway backlit by hallway torchlight, wearing a silk robe that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. Her scent hit me—vanilla and roses twisted with Jax's cologne—and my stomach turned.

"Kendrick." She said my name like it tasted bitter. "We need to talk."

I didn't move from where I sat on the cot, back against the wall, watching her with dead eyes. Ash had gone silent hours ago, retreating so deep I could barely feel him anymore.

"Nothing to say?" She stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "No protests of innocence? No begging for mercy?"

"Would it matter?" My voice came out flat.

Something flickered across her face—disappointment, maybe. Like she'd wanted me to fight so she could crush me again.

"I spoke with my father." She circled the small room, trailing her fingers along the bare walls. "And with Grandmother. They're willing to be... lenient."

"Lenient." I tasted the word, bitter as ash.

"If you accept your place." She stopped in front of me, and I saw the calculation in her eyes. "Be my official mate. Lead the warriors. Use that Alpha aura to keep the pack strong. And in return, I'll convince Father to drop the treason charges. You'll keep your position, your honor, everything."

"Everything except my dignity."

Her lip curled. "Dignity is a luxury you can't afford anymore. You're accused of treason, Kendrick. Do you understand what that means? They could execute you. Or worse—declare you rogue and hunt you down like the animal you've become."

Ash stirred weakly in my chest, a whimper of pain.

"All you have to do," she continued, voice dropping to something almost gentle, "is accept reality. I need Jax. You need protection. It's a simple transaction."

"And the pups?" The question burned coming out. "The ones you'll claim are mine while Jax sires them?"

"Details." She waved a hand dismissively. "No one will know. No one will care. You'll have your precious honor, and I'll have the life I deserve."

I looked at her—really looked at her—and wondered how I'd ever thought this was love. How I'd ever believed the Moon Goddess would bind me to something so hollow.

"Get out."

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"Get. Out." I stood slowly, and she took a step back. Good. Let her remember what an Alpha wolf looked like when pushed too far. "I'd rather die rogue than live as your puppet."

For a moment, genuine fury flashed across her face. Then she smiled, cold and sharp.

"You'll change your mind," she said, moving to the door. "When you're bleeding out in some ditch with hunters on your trail, you'll remember this moment. Remember that I offered you mercy."

She left, and the lock clicked behind her.

I sat back down, feeling Ash uncurl slightly in my chest. Three days until Thorne's convoy arrived. Three days of pretending to be broken while planning my escape.

Three days too long.

I waited until the guards changed at dawn. Listened to their footsteps fade down the hallway, counted the seconds until they'd be far enough away.

Then I moved.

The window was small, but I'd stayed lean from years of war. I squeezed through, dropped silently to the ground below, and ran.

The eastern cairn called to me like a beacon. My father's memorial, the sacred ground where I'd spent countless dawns seeking guidance. Where I'd promised him I'd protect the pack, honor the mate bond, be the wolf he'd raised me to be.

I smelled the diesel exhaust before I saw them.

Bulldozers. Three of them, yellow metal gleaming in the early morning sun. And the cairn—my father's cairn—already half-destroyed. Sacred stones scattered like trash, the carefully arranged memorial reduced to rubble.

A construction worker saw me approaching and waved. "Hey, you can't be here! This is an active construction zone!"

I kept walking, Ash rising in my chest like a tidal wave.

"Who ordered this?" My voice came out too calm. Too quiet.

The worker checked his clipboard. "Uh, Luna Livia Collins. We're building a guest house. Real fancy one, too. Heated floors, spa bathroom, the works."

For Jax. She was destroying my father's memory to build a love nest for Jax.

Something inside me snapped.

Ash exploded through my skin in a surge of raw Alpha power that sent the construction workers stumbling backward. My wolf didn't fully shift—didn't need to. Just enough to let them see the predator beneath the man.

My eyes went gold. Claws erupted from my fingertips. And when I opened my mouth, the sound that came out wasn't human.

It was a howl. Pure, primal, and absolutely devastating.

The bulldozers' engines died. Windows shattered in nearby buildings. And every wolf in the Silverclaw territory felt it in their bones—the challenge of an Alpha who'd finally been pushed too far.

The construction crew ran. Smart.

I stood there among the ruins of my father's memorial, feeling Ash rage and grieve in equal measure, and threw my head back for another howl.

This one was a summons.

And every wolf in the pack would answer.